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Real estate markets will boom and Tokyo Bay will be redeveloped if the Japanese capital wins the right to host the 2020 Olympics, a senior business leader told investors Wednesday.
Toyota Motor honorary chairman Fujio Cho said the already busy city would become even livelier if the sporting extravaganza came to town.
"It's certain that real estate markets will be quite active" if Tokyo's bid is successful, he told members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan.
"Without doubt, the Tokyo Bay area will be redeveloped on a large scale. In terms of road-building, there are many places where ring roads are not complete just because of small sections that have not yet been constructed.
"If the Olympics are to be hosted here, I think there will be a big boost in morale among Japanese people, which will enable the construction and completion of such projects," he said.
Tokyo is competing with Istanbul and Madrid for the right to stage the Games, with the final decision set to be made by the 100-strong International Olympic Committee at a meeting in Buenos Aires on Sept 7.
While many large Asian cities are throbbing with construction projects as their economies surge, there are few cranes standing over the Japanese capital these days.
The investment boost that hosting the Games could bring would be a welcome fillip for Japan, whose economy has struggled for much of the last two decades.
It would also dovetail well with a renewed push by the government to turn things around, with lavish public spending promised for infrastructure projects.
Tokyo is the only one of the three candidate cities to have previously hosted the Games, in 1964. It has promised to be a "safe pair of hands" with such advantages as financial strength, potential marketing and sponsorship opportunities and established infrastructure.
"I hope the younger generation can feel the prosperous future I had experienced in 1964," said Cho, who joined Toyota from university a few years before Tokyo hosted the Games.
Cho said his salary had risen considerably since that time "but recently the salaries of young people are not going up."
"I hope the Olympics come here, and together with 'Abenomics,' the salaries of young people will rise," he said, referring to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policy aimed at kickstarting the economy.
Istanbul has emphasised its role as a city with a foot in both Asia and Europe, but anti-government protests there in recent months have cast a cloud over its bid.
Madrid, despite general worries over the plight of the Spanish economy, won universal praise from IOC members when the three cities presented their bids.
© (C) 2013 AFP
17 Comments
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smithinjapan
Ah, and the true reasons for the desire to host The Games comes out: money. Did he also mention how it will screw taxpayers for decades to come before and after the games?
Nancy Foust
So who buys all this real estate? The government in order to put on the games? If the government is buying it then it is the taxpayers who are actually buying it. So the real estate gamblers want the taxpayers to buy their properties during a down market. How nice.
some14some
yes Olympic athletes and visitors will 'temporarily' buy real-estate during their stay in Japan :(
Ranger_Miffy2
But but but, we get a spiffy futuristic stadium!
wtfjapan
yes they will boom then crash back down when the party is over
gaijinfo
1) No, it won't.
2) Japan isn't getting the Olympics, so it doesn't matter anyhow.
3) No, really, it won't.
ka_chan
Hmmm, how does saying there will be a boom in real estate help win the Olympics for Tokyo? One of the concerns that the IOC has about Tokyo is the high rental rates in Tokyo. As for a boom itself, isn't the plan to re-build or enlarge existing structures from the 1964 Olympics? Maybe there will be a new Olympic Village at a cost of $1.3 Billion. Then again for a country with 250% debt to GDP, wouldn't this kind of spending create a problem. The world interest rates are already going up, what will they be in 2020? Not sure that this kind of comment will help get the Olympics.
gogogo
I seriously hope not means increased rent for everyone!
Onniyama
Like Tokyo isn`t already expensive enough to live in.
Tiger_In_The_Hermitage
Buy now and sell before the Olympics.
isoducky
So Housing prices will increase, who will be able to afford these houses? Japanese nationals in Tokyo who are already having issues with housing? Nope this will push the market further out of their reach. Japanese nationals around the country? Maybe a few, if they are able to afford entering the Tokyo housing market in the first place. Foreign nationals? Maybe, if they have the cash since Japanese banks really don't like taking on debts of foreigners......The rich will get richer, the poor will worked over, but hey Tokyo reconstruction is never a bad thing. Fukuoka or Osaka would have been better choices.
Wakarimasen
Look at all of the predictions for Stratford in London and then look at the reality which has already set in. Tokyo likely won't win, if it does will be a temporary boom, Tokyo Bay will get more landfill and white elephant developments and then the hangover. Tokyo property is never going up fast again.
kurisupisu
This mindset is so.'bubble-era'!
The way to prosperity for the average Japanese is definitely NOT going to be the result of a pork barrel 2020 Tokyo Olympics
Sue Jones
Sounds like a lot of opportunities to waste money to me
malfupete
how does he figure this? Historically, the olympics haven't been a cash cow for any city to host them, more of a drain and the effects of it (higer tourism, spending) are short term at best. in 2035, no one will care anymore that Tokyo hosted the 2020 games and I doubt this will create any sort of housing boom.
building a few roads will not spur on any housing boom as he suggests... you NEED a healthy economy, people more optomistic about the future, good paying jobs so you can afford that 100 million yen 2LDK..
a pipe dream and nothing more
sangetsu03
It will boom, then it will bust. The Olympic's is a weeks-long event, and Japan is suffering from decades-long problems.
Exactly who will live in a redeveloped Tokyo Bay area? The population and economy are shrinking, and anyone with an elementary-school understanding of economics knows that you can't expect a booming housing market when ere are less and less buyers participating. Most Japanese companies have already shifted much of their manufacturing jobs overseas, and even administration jobs are now heading the same way. Taxation and regulations enacted to pay for past government spending have made Japan uncompetitive, companies can no longer bear the burden and continue to operate.
Once the bills come due for the government's new "lavish spending on infrastructure" there will be few left to pay them, and those that remain will not have the means.
RomeoRII
This one's a lock for Tokyo. Will be very happy to see that city get the nod in Early September.
RR